


Kiss with a Fist

by Arya_Greenleaf



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Blood, Established Relationship, Fist Fights, Injury, M/M, Rough Kissing, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-14 13:22:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7173584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arya_Greenleaf/pseuds/Arya_Greenleaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux makes a rare on-planet trip to negotiate with the senator representing it. There are rumors that he may, at least secretly, align himself with the First Order making valuable resources available to the Order without any costly battles. When Hux returns to the Finalizer far less pristine than he left it, Kylo finds his feathers ruffled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Bloodplay? Does this qualify as bloodplay? I'm not sure. There is blood and they play. Very brief.
> 
> Written in response to [pinkottericorn's](http://pinkottericorn.tumblr.com/) request for some split lips and bloody noses. Side-note: if you're not following their [art blog](http://doodlingthingies.tumblr.com/) then you're seriously missing out.
> 
> EDIT 01JULY2016: pinkottericorn/doodlingthingies is a wonderful, amazing person and has posted fabulous fan art of Avaah Ren, the original character that appears here and in several of my other Kylux fics. Go check them out by clicking [right here.](http://onheil-ferguson.tumblr.com/tagged/avaah-ren)

Hux closed his eyes, trying to tune out the sound of routine movements on the shuttle around him. He drew in deep breaths, counting to five in his head as he inhaled, again while he held the air in his chest, and again while he emptied himself of it. He could feel the flush slowly receding from his cheeks, the flare of heat on the back of his neck cooling.

Hux clenched his fists tightly, the controlled breathing doing wonders for the summersaults his stomach was doing but also quickly helping the adrenaline he’d been running on dissipate.

He could _feel_ _everything_ , much more keenly than before. His stomach flipped over with a wave of pained nausea rather than the rage and insult that had been stirring things around just minutes before.

He opened his eyes and watched troopers and the select lower officers and strategists that had accompanied him to the Endor system mill back and forth as they prepared for take-off.

At the very least, he’d gotten what he came for even if he was leaving with a little something extra.

“Sir,” Phasma’s smooth voice projected through her helmet. She filled the frame of his door, blocking his view of the passage outside.

“Captain.”

“We’re almost finished loading the cargo. The senator has regained consciousness and agreed to terms.”

“Good.”

Phasma leaned back, looking in one direction and then the other before stepping fully into the room and pressing the control panel to shut the door behind herself. She tossed her cape over her shoulder and reached up to remove her helmet. Hux often wondered how truly uncomfortable Stormtrooper armor was and seeing the light flush across Phasma’s lovely cheeks left this instance no different. She set the helmet on the floor and curled her body down onto the bunk beside Hux. She sat in silence for a moment, brow furrowed deeply, clearly thinking of how exactly to say what she wished to. She combed her fingers back through her hair and took a breath, closing her mouth again before she spoke.

“Say it.”

“ _Hux_ ,” her expression was crumpled with concern when she finally did look at him and speak.

“Please, don’t.”

“Hux, you could have been killed.” She reached out and touched the broken skin of his cheek—his mouth looking like it was spread into a comically wide grin on one side. Pain stabbed through his face. He grimaced and she pulled her hand away.

“And I wasn’t.”

Hux looked down at his distorted reflection in the high-polished chrome plate over Phasma’s chest. His right cheek destroyed—the left side of his mouth a bruised mess around a vertical split—his left orbital threatening toward swelling, the cheekbone mottled over with black and blue. He clenched his fists tight again, his knuckles throbbed.

“I don’t understand why you ordered my men and I to stand down. We could have ended it before it escalated.”

“I still would have left with a fat lip.”

“But without a concussion.”

Hux waved a hand dismissively. Visions of the senator launching himself across the conference table flashed through Hux’s memory. Negotiations had gone south much more quickly than he’d anticipated, even with the truth of the senator’s Imperial sympathies. The burly creature in his political finery had landed the first blow after what Hux knew was a perfectly innocuous statement—he wasn’t foolish, he made damned sure he read up on the culture or language of whatever official he was meant to schmoose to ensure nothing offensive occurred, at least not unintentionally—driving his spiny fist right into Hux’s teeth.

He ran the tip of his tongue over his teeth while he considered Phasma’s distress, probing at them and reassuring himself that they were all miraculously still there and intact.

“Shall I alert medbay?”

“I’d like to do this with… a measure of discretion.”

“Of course.” Phasma unfolded herself, standing up once more and picking up her helmet. “Sir.” She put the helmet back on and moved toward the door.

“Shut it behind you, please.” She nodded shortly and departed.

***

Kylo jerked forward, yanked out of his meditation by _something_ he couldn’t quite put his finger on. His heart raced in his chest, battering itself against his ribs.

“Avaah,” he breathed. “ _Ren!_ ”

The petite woman at his side raised a brow and opened one eye. “What?” she snapped.

“Something is wrong.”

“And?”

“I can’t see it.”

“Perhaps you are not meant to.”

“Or someone is preventing it.” Kylo frowned and got to his feet, extending his hand to help his fellow Knight up from the floor. “Come, I need to work this out.”

Avaah threw her head back in exasperation but took the offered hand anyway. She waved him off when he offered her coat and left him standing in his quarters, her bare feet slapping against the durasteel floor. “Hurry up before I change my mind.”

***

Hux fought to remain impassive as the medtech stitched the tear in his cheek shut. After several scans of his head he was made to lie down with a frost-compress. The medtech hovered close, bewildered by his condition and quickly edging toward asking far too many questions.

“You will be careful what you say, Sergeant,” he spat out from beneath the compress. “What happened is _my_ business. Your job is attend to what is before you and nothing more.”

“Y-yes, sir.” His voice cracked with anxiety. He’d protested the instruction to tend to Hux’s needs, fearing he’d be blamed if something went wrong—or for the scarring that would likely be left behind. “I apologize, General. I spoke out of turn. Please call for me if you need anything.”

Finally alone, Hux sat up and peeled the frost-compress away, the icy burn of his skin a minor distraction from the overall throb of his head. He swept the suturing tools out of the way and picked up the tray that had held them, examining is reflection in the steel surface.

He’d asked the tech to forego bandages, requesting that he simply spread the topical bacta across the perfect line of stitches. His lip was ugly and swollen, the skin just below treated with a tiny white adhesive strip, the same on the small cut over his cheekbone.

“Kriffing hell.”

Hux dreaded leaving the medbay now that he was there. The questions and comments, whether posed directly to him or not, would be overwhelming. He laid back down and replaced the frost-compress. At the very least, the time it would take for the compress to lose its coolness would give him a chance to think of how best to handle the situation.

Avoiding his fellow officers was out of the question just as much as trying to avoid the general population of the _Finalizer_ would be. He had to interact with them, it was a necessity. He was needed on the bridge for his regularly assigned shifts, for anything that might arise otherwise.

What had happened on-planet wasn’t exactly a secret, but the senator’s inclinations weren’t quite for public consumption, either. Refusing to offer an explanation would garner him more attention. Giving an explanation, however minimal, would promote speculation.

If the throbbing in his head would just stop, he might be able to focus on some kind of a strategy for handling this mess.

Hux laughed out loud, shrill and manic at the thought that sprang into his head: He could ask Kylo Ren if he might borrow that pretentious mask—or having him give a show of the Force, compel anyone who crossed Hux’s path to curb their tongue.

“Sir?” The medtech appeared in the doorway. “Is there a problem?”

Hux took a breath and sat up, willing the wave of nausea away as he did. “Fetch Captain Phasma.”

“Yes, sir.”

The medtech paused, taking a new frost-compress out and crushing the chemical packet inside to activate it. He held it out to Hux, a look of mild fear on his face. Hux snatched it away. “Immediately.”

“Yes, sir.” The medtech spun on his heel and rushed off to follow instructions.

“General?” It was some time before Phasma appeared in the medbay. “You sent for me?”

He realized it was a gross misuse of the captain’s time, but he needed her cooperation if his strategy, however simple, was going to work. He needed to present a united front, to appear as cool and collected as possible and larger than life. He needed his presentation to override any inclination toward curiosity.

“I need to appear… _invincible_.”

“Sir, you already command the respect of your crew, I doubt pageantry is really necessary.”

Hux grimaced, the anti-inflammatory he’d been given beginning to wear off, and peeled the new frost-compress away from his face. He imagined the frown that must have been carving deep ridges into the fair face under Phasma’a helmet.

“Do you know where they are?”

“The Ren? Of course.”

Hux slipped off the edge of the examination table and did his best to smooth his hair down with his fingers. Phasma plucked his greatcoat off of the hook on the wall hear the door and held it out to him. He nodded his thanks, settling himself under the familiar mantel, and dropped his shoulders back.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Hux strode away from the medbay, putting a stern hand up at the protest of the medtech that had been caring for him. Phasma fell in line, just a step behind Hux to his right hand. He suppressed a smile and stared straight ahead, chin tipped up. The pair of them swept through the corridors of the _Finalizer_ with the sharp clip of boots on durasteel and a dramatic billow of cape and coat. Hux followed Phasma’s lead mostly by intuition, the occasional discreet touch of her elbow against his—he should have realized where they were going.

Grunts and the slap of skin on skin echoed into the corridor from the open training-room door. In the absence of anyone else, Hux hazarded a wary look at Phasma with his brow raised high. She snorted softly in amusement.

She held her arm out in a welcoming gesture, “After you.”

“How kind of you, Captain.”

“My pleasure, General.”

The Ren were locked together in the middle of the room, hands gripping shoulders and biceps in vice-like grips, skin flushed with color from exertion and glistening with perspiration. Hux was immediately curious—Kylo Ren only trained as vigorously as he appeared to be training when he could not focus, when he felt he was missing something important. He’d explained ad nauseam that he felt loosening his body and bringing himself to the edge of exhaustion allowed him to push his mind further, as if some physical boundary had been broken down.

As they were, they looked slightly ridiculous.

Kylo was hunched over, his height dwarfing Avaah though appearing to give him little to no advantage over her. The smaller of the knights bared her teeth and wrenched her shoulders sharply to the side in an attempt to throw Kylo off.

“Ren.”

They both turned toward the interruption.

Something cruel flashed across Avaah’s features. Taking advantage of the distraction, she dug her fingertips down into Kylo’s skin. He lurched forward and she ducked, rounding her back and driving her shoulders into his torso.

Kylo’s feet left the ground, his considerable bulk pitched through the air, ass over head. He landed hard on the floor, crying out as the air left his chest all at once.

Avaah quickly side-stepped, avoiding Kylo’s attempt to sweep her feet from under her. She nodded in Hux’s direction by way of greeting.

Kylo grinned wildly and folded up his legs, launching himself off the floor. “General.” He used both hands to shove sweaty tendrils of hair out of his face. His expression dropped, cycling through anger and confusion and clarity in several seconds. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing you need be overly concerned with.”

“All due respect, General,” Avaah Ren focused her attention on unwinding the wraps from her hands. “If it was not a matter to be concerned with, you would not be here.” She raised a brow, her wide eyes holding him in place. “You’ve no great love for our abilities—or our presence here—even if you respect them.”

Kylo’s face scrunched in consternation. Hux took a breath and trained practiced attention on keeping the two adept Force-users out of his head.

“Who’s done this?”

“A disagreeable politician.” Kylo snorted in derision. “Do the both of you have anything pressing to attend to?”

“Not at the moment.” Avaah shot Kylo a look, something silent passing between them. “What do you require, General?”

Phasma explained the gist of the issue at hand. Both of the knights listened with skeptical looks on their faces. Hux maintained a stoic air, breathing through the steadily mounting pain in his head.

“You’ve no interest in our methods, Hux.” Kylo’s creamy intonation made the informal address seem much less benign than it might have. “Why should we assist you?”

“We are Knights of Ren, not your personal guard dogs.”

“That’s not what I expect of you. I would think in such a matter that Leader Snoke would want the co-commanders of this ship to present a united front. By extension, that includes both Phasma and yourself, Ren. You both wield a certain amount of influence and respect with the crew and our troops. It cannot be thought that one disagreeable senator can upset the Order.”

“Or do you mean _you_?” One side of Kylo’s mouth quirked up.

Avaah put a hand on his arm to stay his tongue. “I agree. We’ve both heard enough unspoken secrets in our time aboard. Your suggestion is more than reasonable, General. We will be with you shortly.” She smiled and looked pointedly at Phasma before slipping by and out the door.

“Ren?”

Kylo shrugged nonchalantly. “I suppose it will be entertaining to observe the bridge. We will find you.”

***

Avaah sighed, impatient in her many layers and helmet. “Kylo Ren, you’re insufferable.”

“I’m insufferable? _He_ is insufferable.”

“For what reason? Because he does not bend for you? Doesn’t take your baiting?”

“You talk as if I am the only one who does any baiting.”

“He is much more skilled at hiding his consternation than you are. Not from us, of course, but the rest of them—and that’s what matters.”

“Then why can he not peacock for his crew on his own?”

“Phasma thinks there may be informers aboard. Hux hasn’t said anything, but her suspicions aren’t totally unfounded. What happened down there…” Avaah folded her arms, tilting her head thoughtfully. “She thinks that senator truly did mean to kill Hux. There was nothing for him to have been offended by, certainly not anything warranting a physical attack. It was completely unexpected.”

“Desperate grab for power? Though what he thought taking Hux out of the picture would do, other than inflame the Order is beyond me.”

“But from which side was he grabbing power? Eliminating Hux could garner favor from the Resistance—but with Phasma and the others there he would have never escaped with his life to reap the benefits.”

“Perhaps an on-planet trip is on order.” Avaah raised a brow and Kylo lowered his mask in place. “Let’s play out this pantomime first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Avaah Ren is my Knight of Ren OC, she was inspired by the design for "The Heavy" from the TFA concept art.


	2. Chapter 2

Hux lingered in his office. He’d seen mercifully few other people and the ones he had had asked mercifully few questions. They accepted his explanation at face value, or at least appeared to: negotiations had gotten tense, the tension had gotten violent, and the situation had been handled.

None of them needed to know the suspicions Phasma had finally expressed in the privacy of his office, suspicions that he’d half-formed and half-dismissed: The whole thing had been a set-up.

Hux scolded himself for what was probably the tenth time since he’d sat down at his desk—his vanity was getting the better of him. Each time he caught a glimpse of himself in some reflective surface, of which there were plenty in a room constructed largely of plastoid and durasteel, he grimaced in disappointment. Even with the bacta, he’d likely have at least subtle scarring. It would be a constant reminder of the entire debacle.

“Sir.” The door _whisshed_ open and Phasma stepped inside. “Hux.” He looked up from the mission report he’d been staring at on his datapad, not actually absorbing anything. “Gamma shift will begin soon.”

Hux rose from his seat and picked up his coat from the back of his chair. “I’m aware, Phasma.”

“Hux,” she fell in line beside him once more. “I’ve been thinking that—“

“We need to root out the problem as quickly as possible and pitch them out the airlock?” He made his best attempt at a humorous tone.

“Something like that. The Ren may be able to assist.”

“They very well may.”

Phasma and Hux made their way to the bridge sure of step. Just as Hux anticipated, there was immediate hushed conversation amongst the crew.

Hux took his place near the rea of the bridge, signing in to the console with the best overall view of the room. “You all have duties to attend to.” He kept his voice quiet and controlled, forcing them to listen closely. “I expect no interruptions.”

He was answered with a chorus of “Yes, General.” as Phasma discretely touched his elbow in a reassuring gesture.

“Where _are_ they?”

“I expect Kylo Ren is taking his time, Sir.”

There was a palpable change in the atmosphere when the Ren arrived on the bridge in a sweep of dark fabric and console lights reflecting off of faceplates.

“General.” Kylo nodded, the slightest of gestures. He settled into place to Hux’s left, his presence both threatening and comforting at once.

“Ren.”

“Captain.” Avaah’s voice had its characteristic smile even through the modulation of her mask.

“Avaah Ren.” Hux glanced over his shoulder at Phasma. The captain stared straight ahead, her hand resting casually on the grip of the blaster at her hip. Something always seemed to pass silently between the pair of them. If he didn’t know better he might have thought Phasma was Force-sensitive as well.

“They’re afraid,” Kylo said softly. Hux assumed he meant the crew present on the bridge. It wasn’t surprising. It wasn’t often that both knights appeared at once in their full garb. They presented a formidable front. Hux felt light headedness cutting through the throb in his skull and gripped the edges of his console hard. “We’ll learn if our… collective suspicions have feet soon enough, General.”

The tension on the bridge built until it was a constant, electric thrum. Few dared look over at the assemblage around Hux’s console. Even fewer dared make eye-contact.

“Sir,” Hux looked up at Mitaka. The lieutenant was eyeing Kylo Ren warily. “We’re receiving a transmission from the New Republic back channel.”

“Send it here.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kylo stepped forward a few paces, his hands rest behind his back and his gaze presumably focused on the viewport. “Avaah, have you ever seen the Monsua Nebula?”

“I can’t say I’ve had the occasion.”

Kylo moved across the bridge, settling himself nearer to the viewport, observing the vastness of space beyond the starboard side. Avaah followed, her heavy footfalls ringing out through the bridge.

Hux frowned and opened the transmission Mitaka had forwarded him, putting his earpiece in to listen to it. “What was _that_ all about?”

“I don’t know, Sir.” She paused, glancing down at the holovid Hux had begun to play. “My own shift is about to begin, though. Have you any further need of me?”

Hux put a hand up, “Wait.”

_In a special report coming out of the Endor system, Senator Dax is said to be doing well after an attempt on his life by a yet to be identified First Order representative. Earlier this cycle, the senator took a meeting to negotiate the departure of the First Order’s ships from the system. Negotiations are said to have gone sour when the representative physically assaulted the senator who would not give in to demands for—_

Hux ripped the earpiece out. “Tell me Captain, who exactly was making demands today?” He knew she was more than capable of at least minimal lip reading though she couldn’t hear the audio on the vid. “I’m not playing these games any longer.” He jabbed at a button to kill the vid. “We’ll deal with this.”

“Of course, Sir. Shall I alert the Special Forces commander?”

“No. Not yet. Not while they’ve got Republic’s rapt attention.” Phasma nodded and took a tentative step back. “I will send an alert if I should need you or your division, Captain.” He noted a pair of lower officers at their consoles looking rather uncomfortable. Phasma nodded again and turned to depart from the bridge.

Hux kept one eye on the other moving about the bridge and one on his duties. Gamma shift seemed to persist for several standard cycles rather that only several standard hours. Finally, his relief came.

“Unamo.”

“Hux.” She keyed her information into the console Hux was vacating. “Anything I should be aware of?”

Hux began to speak and was interrupted by Kylo Ren’s approach, the second knight at his heels. “General.”

“Ren, something to report? The beauty of the nebula from this approach?”

Kylo stared at Unamo for several beats before speaking again. “The two at the far port side.” He walked away, Avaah trailing after him and allowing her shoulder to bump hard into an arriving petty officer’s.

Unamo raised a brow. “Sir?”

“Watch them.”

“Certainly.”

***

Kylo was drawn out of his light slumber by the nagging someone else’s thoughts. He sat up and rubbed his eyes hard. “Pfassking _shut up_.”

Try as he might, the nagging only grew louder.

“Alright. Where are you?”

Kylo closed his eyes and made himself relax, reaching out into the body of the sip to locate the source.

“Hmm.”

He padded through the mostly deserted halls with bare feet, too harassed to bother with dressing further than throwing an undershirt on.

He found Hux in a training room, snarling as he fought off an attack from a particularly aggressive semi-solid hologram. Kylo watched as Hux ducked under and leapt over attacks. He moved in close, stabbing in short bursts with a thin, electrostatic blade as he drove the hologram back.

Hux’s bare torso was flushed with color, his sweat-damp hair flopped into his eyes.

The hologram finally doubled over and fell in dramatic fashion before disappearing. Hux shifted his weight from the ball of one foot to the other, waiting for the training program to continue. His eyes darted around, looking for where the next holographic attacker might originate.

Kylo stepped into the room. He took a breath, intending to call for Hux’s attention.

A sharp elbow landed solidly against his nose. “You barvy pfassking— _aaarrrgg!”_ Kylo clamped his hands over his face, pain shooting through his head. “What is _wrong_ with you?”

“What’s wrong with _me?_ What are _you_ doing kriffing sneaking up on me?”

“I wasn’t—“ He pinched the bridge of his nose and prodded it with his fingers, convinced it was broken for the intensity of the throb of it. “I wasn’t sneaking up on you.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

Hux squawked in protest when Kylo snatched the electrostatic blade from his hand and swung and arm out to knock him out of the way of the newly attacking hologram. He drove the blade through the holo’s temple and yanked it out again, watching the holo crumple.

Hux’s battered face twisted with rage as he made a grab for the blade, his scabbed-over lip splitting wide and dribbling. “Give me that!”

“Behind!”

Hux ducked as the new holo swung a heavy weapon, the training program still running. Kylo dropped the blade to put both hands around the handle of the new holo’s weapon. It drove him back with surprising persistence, his bare feet skidding against the smooth floor. Hux dove for the blade, scooping it up off the floor and tripping up the holo to make it stumble. It turned on him, forgetting Kylo for the moment as it abandoned its weapon, the thing fizzling and fading in Kylo’s hands now that it wasn’t attached to its owner.

Hux ducked low and slipped inside the hulking thing’s defenses, driving the electrostatic blade down into its throat.

 _Training protocol sixty-two-A complete. General Hux,_ the computer system’s smooth voice turned robotic over the name. _Would you like to continue?_

“No,” Hux spat, swiping his forearm across his chin, smearing blood and spittle.

_Training complete. Please return all weapons to their holsters._

Hux walked to the cabinet on the wall beside the console the voice was coming from and plunged the blade he’d been using down into the empty sheath where it belonged.

“What do you want, Ren?”

“To know what the kriff you were thinking today.”

“What was I thinking? What was I thinking!” Hux paced the floor, sweaty feet leaving slick spots along his path, arms akimbo. Kylo could see the way his fingers twitched, how he was fighting to not curl them into fists. “I was thinking I’d go down for a private negotiation with a senator who longed for the power the Empire had promised. It should have been easy! But he seems to have gotten it in his head that—“

“That the Republic is a more valuable ally.”

Hux curled his lip in derision and kept pacing.

“Stop that.” Kylo approached hesitantly, mildly bewildered at the way Hux had come undone—his lack of control and open expressions very much the opposite of the way he normally outwardly presented himself.

Hux batted Kylo’s hand away. “Don’t tell me to stop! I’ve allowed myself to be used and I am _furious._ ” Kylo gripped Hux’s arms hard, forcing him to stop his movement. Hux trembled and flushed, his eyes searching Kylo’s face. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m what?”

Hux shrugged Kylo’s hands off, wrenching himself from Kylo’s grasp. He swiped his thumb beneath Kylo’s nose and held it aloft for him to see. A shining red drop slid down over the digit and followed the crease of his palm. “I’ve never seen you bleed.”

Kylo’s brow shot up in amusement and he took a step closer. He traced the line of the neat stitches on Hux’s cheek with one hand and pressed his fingers into the plush bottom lip, a drop of clear fluid shining over the split. “Why did you not allow me to accompany you? We could have known what machinations were at work before it came to this. You know that I can—“

“I did not achieve my rank by relying on anyone else’s _unique skills_. Believing in Dax’s motivations was a mistake that I will not make again.” His nostril’s flared and his breath came in heavy pants. He made no move to rid himself of Kylo’s touch. “Those two from the bridge, by the way, found themselves on the wrong side of the airlock at the end of Alpha shift.”

“So you would rather risk life and limb for what? Pride?”

Hux pressed closer, their noses nearly touching. “I would rather admire his skull in my curio cabinet. But here we are.”

“General—“

“Shut up.”

Kylo whined, pain flaring through his face as Hux pressed their lips together, noses clashing. Their mouths slid against each other clumsily, movement made slick by the blood on their faces. Hux’s hands curled into tight fists, gathering up bunches of Kylo’s undershirt. He bit down, yanking at Kylo’s bottom lip with his teeth sharply before releasing it.

“You want his skull.”

Hux glared and surged forward again.


	3. Chapter 3

Kylo returned to his quarters in the small hours of the morning feeling like there were thousands of insects, all electric and angry, buzzing just under the surface of his skin.

“Captain.”

“Kylo Ren.” Phasma’s voice rang out with her usual cool tones from his communicator.

“I need several troopers. A small landing party.”

“They will be waiting with your shuttle.”

Kylo ended the call without further words and went to dress.

A few hours later, as the last of the three pale moons of Dax’s home planet began to set and its pinkish sunrise to begin, Kylo Ren stepped into the cool marble hall of the senatorial palace.


End file.
